Please explain what the hell it could have been?

[mearly92]

I saw a small (maybe 36-40 inches, Tiny really) bullshark between Thomas point and 86 (3) years back. Swam right by the boat ( 5 feet off the port side)with his dorsal and tail fin out of the water. We were throwin chunks of fresh spot in. We were in 85-100 feet of water trying to catch the bigger 3-5 lb blues that come here in August. Threw a chunk right at him and he didn't so much as turn his head. I am 100 % sure it was a shark and not a Cobia or Ray. What's the big deal with seeing a shark in the bay? Its always a big deal on here as to whether it really happened.

What would be hot damnned thing is to catch a 30 inch blue up in the bay now thats an awesome grade of bluefish!

[h2oboss]

photo or description of bite marks would help. Usually a BF bite will most likely be very clean cut and have a crisp edge....shark bite will be more torn/ragged edge, radius of bite will also help id. regardless.....BF eat BF and sharks eat BF and both are in the bay at times

[TDLewis]

Cownose rays eat fish too! It could have been one of them as well. THey don't have teeth and will "smash" a bait instead of cutting it cleanly.

[chesapeaketrans]

I was running back from solomans couple of sundays ago heading north and ran across a large school of dolphins near james island!!!! sharks are def in our bay at times.

[hackeyfly]

"Whad'ya mean, bite radius? This is the shark, we caught it, now get outa here!"
Pat in Joppa

[Pursuiting]

photo or description of bite marks would help. Usually a BF bite will most likely be very clean cut and have a crisp edge....shark bite will be more torn/ragged edge, radius of bite will also help id. regardless.....BF eat BF and sharks eat BF and both are in the bay at times

I didn'thave my camera and the photo I attempted with my phone failed. I am used to fishing in FLA and this is not uncommon around reefs. I was unaware of the "dangers" of the Bay. Now I will tell my 5 years old daughter to stop complaining about the jellyfish sting she received Sunday, becuase things could have been much much worse.

Hope the beast, or "beasts," is still around this weekend to give me another shot at a big battle. At least I didn't lose the lure.

[IClaudius7]

Does any one not know the history of "Jaws" ??? Benchley based his story on the bull shark attacks of 1916:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_...ttacks_of_1916

"Attacks and victims
Map of the Jersey Shore attacks

Between July 1 and July 12, 1916, five people were attacked along the coast of New Jersey by sharks; only one of the victims survived. The first attack occurred on Saturday, July 1 at Beach Haven, a resort town established on Long Beach Island off the southern coast of New Jersey. Charles Epting Vansant, 25, of Philadelphia was on vacation at the Engleside Hotel with his family. Before dinner, Vansant decided to take a quick swim in the Atlantic with a Chesapeake Bay Retriever that was playing on the beach. Shortly after entering the water, Vansant began shouting. Bathers believed he was calling to the dog, but a shark was actually biting Vansant's legs. He was rescued by lifeguard Alexander Ott, who claimed the shark followed him to shore as he pulled the bleeding Vansant from the water. Vansant's left thigh was stripped of its flesh; he bled to death on the manager's desk of the Engleside Hotel at 6:45 p.m.[1]

Despite the Vansant incident, beaches along the Jersey Shore remained open. Sightings of large sharks swarming off the coast of New Jersey were reported by sea captains entering the ports of Newark and New York City but were dismissed. The second attack occurred 45 miles (72 km) north of Beach Haven at the resort town of Spring Lake, New Jersey. The victim was Charles Bruder, 27, a Swiss bellhop at the Essex & Sussex Hotel. Bruder was killed on Thursday, July 6, 1916, while swimming 130 yards (120 m) from shore. A shark bit him in the abdomen and severed his legs; Bruder's blood turned the water red. After hearing screams, a woman notified a lifeguard that a canoe with a red hull had capsized and was floating just at the water's surface. Lifeguards Chris Anderson and George White rowed to Bruder in a lifeboat and realized he had been bitten by a shark. They pulled him from the water, but he bled to death en route to shore. According to The New York Times, "women [were] panic-stricken [and fainted] as [Bruder's] mutilated body … [was] brought ashore." Guests and workers at the Essex & Sussex and neighboring hotels raised money for Bruder's mother in Switzerland.[2][3]

The next two attacks took place in Matawan Creek near the town of Matawan on Wednesday, July 12. Located 30 miles (48 km) north of Spring Lake and 16 miles (26 km) inland, Matawan resembled a Midwestern town rather than an Atlantic beach resort.[4] Matawan's location made it an unlikely site for shark attacks. When Thomas Cottrell, a sea captain and Matawan resident, spotted an 8 ft (2.40m) long shark in the creek, the town dismissed him.[5] Around 2:00 p.m. local boys, including Lester Stillwell, 11, were playing in the creek at an area called the Wyckoff dock when they saw what appeared to be an "old black weather-beaten board or a weathered log." A dorsal fin appeared in the water and the boys realized it was a shark. Before Stillwell could climb from the creek, the shark attacked him and pulled him underwater.[6]

The boys ran to town for help, and several men, including local businessman Watson Stanley Fisher, 24, came to investigate. Fisher and others dived into the creek to find Stillwell's body, and he was also attacked by the shark in front of the townspeople. Fisher was pulled from the creek without recovering Stillwell's body. His right thigh was severely injured and he bled to death at Monmouth Memorial Hospital in Long Branch at 5:30 p.m.[7] Stillwell's body was recovered 150 feet (46 m) upstream from the Wyckoff dock on July 14.[8]

The fifth and final victim, Joseph Dunn, 14, of New York City was attacked a half-mile from the Wyckoff dock nearly 30 minutes after the attacks on Stillwell and Fisher. The shark bit his left leg, but Dunn was rescued by his brother and friend after a vicious tug-of-war battle with the shark. Joseph Dunn was taken to Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick; he recovered from the attack and was released on September 15, 1916.[9]"

And yes, it could have been a shark.

[Christopher Gotwols]

I hooked something just south of your location on Tuesday on a live eel that I fought for about 20 minutes and chased all over the place. It stripped 3/4 of my line off my reel and came up but didn't break the surface....all I saw was what looked silver or white.....it didn't seem like a ray. Do rays even eat large live eels? Then all of a sudden it was gone.

[BNR]

Been reports of 30+ inch blues around so it could have been that but most likely a bull shark.

[uncljohn]

The OP said the fish they hooked on the Tony was heavy. He also said the line lost its weight while fighting it.

I can buy that a 30" blue might tear up a 16" blue, but there's gonna be a tug-o-war between you and the 30"er, not just the sudden loss of weight/pull. A 30" blue's mouth is also not big enough to engulf an entire body of a decent sized blue and bite it in half.